Thursday, August 14, 2008

Of course, we couldn't leave our pup out of the excitement, so we lovingly logged nearly 10 total hours of car-trekking through the Pennsylvania Alleghenies with Avi.First, it was off to Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the Winner reunion. Grammy Winner was very happy to see us and she was astounded at our very large (and very affectionate ) (AND very willing to sleep on the concrete directly on top of my cousin's sidewalk chalk art) pup.

This also meant a chance for mom to see her favorite pup parading around the picnic tables while I snacked on some of her yummy chocolate chip cookies.

We then headed off to Mountain Top, PA to celebrate my Uncle Jim's birthday and see the Ayre-side of the family. Grammy Ayre recently got a puppy. Her sheltie pup is named Mimi and she is not nearly a quarter Avi's size... so Avi was quite a colossus in Mimi's eyes, which scared her for the first half of our visit.Mimi found her opportunity to get a closer look at Avi while Avi rested on Grammy's kitchen floor.

Then she really got brave, nearly touching noses with our pup.

Honestly, he's so good with other dogs. Outside of a little conversational barking, he was more entranced with Mimi' energy than anything else. Mimi's energy was a little too much for him, but he gave chase to her for some brief time outside before retiring to sneak bites at the apples that had fallen from a nearby tree.

Friday, August 8, 2008

We returned to the Phillips' household this week for an excellent break away from the apartment. They call it "dog and house sitting", but it's so much more about relaxing with the pups and catching up on our Zzz's.Avi perfected his dead-to-the-world couch formation when Aimee was at work.And he cried like the mamma's boy he is whenever she was just out of reach.Come to think of it, they all stuck pretty close to Aimee. (Barkley and Nicki are the most loving dogs ever! They rub off all the good traits on Avi!)And what better way to wrap up a week away from home than in the company of a good friend. Joey is such a good sport with Avi. He allowed Avi to follow him all throughout the house without a single hiss or leap of escape.

Avi woke me up at 5:30am to pee. I walked him. He hurried. We returned to the apartment and I gave him his breakfast. Then I went back to bed and left him to sleep on the tiles by the front door.

I woke up an hour later to an unfamiliar sound. This is what I saw:

We're guessing he was licking his fur off the carpet (yeah... he's gross :) and the cheap apartment carpet started coming up. After that it was an all-out nylon schmorgasbord that resulted in a hole approximately the size of a baseball cap.

But who can be mad at this guy?!Needless to say, he now returns to his kennel whenever we're not out with him. He doesn't seem to mind it too much and we're very thankful that the carpet didn't hurt him.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

After turning 4 months, getting his license and his rabbis shot, Avi is now able to go to BARC, the Baltimore County dog park in Glyndon... and what an awesome dog park it is! Running water. Lots of shade. Plenty of space to run around in. And SO many new dog buddies to socialize with!

Expect to see lots of new stories from our visits to BARC... after all... there are SO MANY new butts to sniff at the dog park! Now that our pup's learned that he can hold is own (though he's still a little nervous around the other dogs), he's starting to show his true colors. (AND he's starting to charm the pants off the other owners at the park!)

Avi Wordle

About Our Berner

Notes from the life of an elementary teacher librarian. Matthew (aka The Busy Librarian) is an elementary teacher librarian, an avid gamer, a persistent reader, an author (of this blog and a forthcoming Wii Learning professional resource), an exceptional father, and a first-rate husband.